A problem exists with regard to the training of individuals to operate machinery in less than perfect visibility. By way of example only and not by limitation, instrument training is what separates the recreational and professional pilots. Instrument flying is flying primarily by reference to the instruments rather than visual cues. This allows all weather operation and flight in clouds, haze and other obscuration, which is known as Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). Unplanned for entry into IMC is an emergency of varying levels of intensity, depending on such factors as whether the plane and pilot are certified for it and how close they are to the terrain. The emergency is particularly dangerous for helicopters due to their inherent instability, low operating altitude and lack of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) certification. In 2011 there were fifty-two accidents caused by IMC; forty-five of them fatal.
Presently the state of the art for training to enter into IMC is for the pilot to put on a hood or a pair of glasses that obscures their vision. While this method works fine for simulating total lack of visual cues, the mechanics of putting them on and the knowledge and the expectation of losing visual cues do not allow for the accurate simulation of IMC. What kills pilots is not the flight in IMC it is the transition from visual flight to instrument flight and the spatial disorientation that accompanies an unexpected loss of visual references.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a visual occlusion device that is operable across the entire range of normal visual environments, from perfectly clear to perfectly occluded and that gives no advance indication of a transition from one to another.
It therefore is an object of this invention to provide a controlled selective visual occlusion system and method that is worn by a user that is controllable to provide selective visual occlusion across a full range of visibility, progressively and in selected areas of the system.